Pillowtalk
by eastofsea
Summary: Typical bed scene. Black loses some sleep, but with a lack of coherency comes the chance for some bonding. Fluff. Black/N. Rating for future chapters.


This feels really...broken and weird. It's not very elegant, but I am my own worst critic. Might rewrite it when it's not 5AM.

**Disclaimer:** Characters (C) Pokémon, not me.

The first night was the most awkward.

It wasn't the fact that one half of Black's bed was suddenly inhabited by a slightly older, taller, awkward young man. It wasn't even that every time Black tried to get comfortable on his side he would get a face full of soft green hair. And he could probably forgive the other's long legs for scrunching up and getting a little too close to his own. N was just trying to feel comfortable, and if anything, him sleeping curled up like a child was more endearing than not. The extra warmth was nice, too.

It was just strange. Black hadn't given much thought to how this situation might have played out before. His journey through Unova had naturally taken up all his time and energy, and he spent his nights laid out under the stars thinking about how his next gym battle might turn out, or why his Scrafty snored so loudly. Not who he might end up sharing a bed with. But if he ever had (and hey, teenagers), his first choice might have been Bianca. White was nice too, but she was so-

Black's eyes opened suddenly as the bed shook, to find green eyes staring at him curiously. He would have jumped, but he was used to N's...quirks. He was damn tired on top of that.

"Can't sleep?" He asked, trying not to sigh when the older boy nodded quietly. It was already past midnight; they had barely gotten settled down after realizing N actually couldn't sleep by himself out on the couch. His Samurott had offered (so N told him quite literally) to sleep out there with him after he had woken up shaken on the first attempt, but N wouldn't have it. Black could only stare at him dumbly and wave him along to his room. It's not like N was a _total _creep. He just did strange things, and he didn't think feeling him up during the night was one of those things.

N huffed, and the air tickled at Black's bangs. "It's too quiet here; I'm not used to it. I'm sorry. I'm keeping you awake aren't I."

Black shook his head slightly. "It's okay, I'll live." He rolled onto his back, noticing N shift subtly closer out of the corner of his eye. "Everyone has trouble sleeping somewhere new. You like it here, right?" The question seemed sudden and fussier than he wanted to admit.

N smiled. "I do. It's small and cozy, not a castle. And the forest is just outside, and you let your Pokémon go wherever they want to..."

Black rolled his eyes in good humor at that. It's true he didn't like keeping them confined when they weren't traveling far, but it was endearing, once again, how much N honed in on that fact.

"...Your mom is nice too. Weird, but nice."

The laughter escaped him then. Black smacked his palm on his forehead and let it fall on the pillow beside him. "Listen to you, calling other people weird. But yeah, she is. She likes you though, you're lucky for that one."

N pouted for a moment before smiling along too. He was getting a hang of his friend's teasing sense of humor.

Feeling the amusement subside, Black stretched his legs and closed his eyes, more than ready to doze off for the night, thank you. The awkwardness had passed for the most part, leaving him more tired than he realized. But N...

"Gah! What are you doing?"

"What?"

Those eyes blinked up at him again, this time from his shoulder where N had decided to make his head comfortable. Black felt around to find the taller boy's body was barely an inch away from his own, his face growing red.

"Why are you so close? Are you cold? We have other blankets, man, you can't-"

"No, I'm not cold at all. I thought... Zoroark would let me hug her when I slept sometimes, if it was a bad night. I didn't mean to startle you, Black."

A bad night? So why now? Despite the oddness of their arrangements, Black felt they were having an alright time.

Wait, no, forget that. He should be more concerned with setting him straight, not why... But then N was scooting himself away and all Black could do was grab him around the shoulders, pulling him back in. He let his arm rest there, and told himself it was so N wouldn't lay on it and make him wake up with pins and needles.

N didn't seem to mind one bit, and relaxed with a grateful sound. Black sighed in his head. All was well in N's world, and the arms sliding slowly around his waist didn't bother as much as they should have. It even tickled a little, but the way N clutched his nightshirt in one hand brought him back to the reality of it. N may be an adult, taller, and by all accounts stronger and smarter than he was, but emotionally it was like having a child around. Although most people might take that as even greater reasoning for establishing wider boundaries, it just didn't feel right to turn him away. And really, Black expected nothing less. When he had seen N sitting on the beach, Reshiram crouched beside him and the tide lapping at his shoes, he knew he could never just _leave him be_. N had looked up at him, arms circled lazily around his knees, and smiled like they had just parted yesterday, not a year before. And the moon had made him glow in all the right ways, and _damn_ he had a nice smile, and Reshiram was looking at him with the face of death if he said one wrong thing-

"Black?"

Green eyes met brown. "What?"

This is where N's eloquence seemed to run dry. That happened a lot since he arrived. Not having to speak like a king all the time was turning out to be quite the chore.

"I just... I want to tell you things. I feel like I'm keeping secrets that I don't even know about. Like just now? I thought you were going to be upset with me. People are that way towards me a lot, so it isn't anything new. But it felt different. Worse, a lot worse. Also, I lied about not being able to sleep by myself. I could if you really wanted me to, but I wanted to sleep in here with you. I don't know what that means either. When you-"

Sleep deprivation or not, Black felt whatever shreds of normalcy in his life slip away just then. Along with most of his established sexuality, considering none of N's nervous rambling surprised or disturbed him. It was plain as day that N was harboring a growing crush, and even plainer every passing moment to Black that he really did not care.

"N, shut up."

"-I never had a friend like you and... what? Sorry. Too much?"

Black groaned. "Stop apologizing all the time. I'm not mad at you. You make it really hard to _try_ and be mad. It would take something a hell of a lot worse than being in love with me to do it, too," he added lowly.

N blinked. "Love?"

"Yes, N. Love. You're talkin' like a girl! Christ, this is weird."

Now he looked uncomfortable, great. N lowered his eyes and moved around restlessly again, trying to put space between them and fighting with the obvious fact that he wanted to do the exact opposite. Black took pity on him and rolled back onto his side, reaching out and pulling him close again. N's arms were squished against their chests, and he kept his eyes averted while shaking silently.

"Calm down, I'm not mad. How many times I gotta say that?" Black's expression softened at the sight of the normally confident (or at least happily oblivious) boy looking so... wilted. He let his hands rest on N's lower back and almost wished something wouldn't feel right, so he could pull away and fall asleep and forget it ever happened. This was way too natural. His eyes wandered over N's shoulder to the open window across the room, glimpsed two scaly backs in the yard, rising and falling with even breaths as the legendary dragons slumbered on in harmony. Black was never one to buy into that mystical crap about fate and the universe and whatever, but he was willing to admit there might be something to this. He looked down at the other boy in his arms and locked eyes again.

"This feels nice." N ventured, speaking just above a whisper.

"Yeah, I guess so," Black agreed, even if in truth he was overcome with thoughts along the line of yes, yes this is perfect. _You're_ perfect. Nah, that was still a bit much, even for this. There may be something bigger than he was at work here, but damned if he couldn't at least take things slow. Slow and normally. He deserved some normalcy, right?

"Maybe I am in love with you," N continued, very matter of fact. "You're a good person. You treat me nicer than anyone else has. Other people are polite, but you make me happier than they do. Is that okay?"

Black snorted. "Feel whatever you want, it doesn't have to be 'okay' to other people."

"It does if it's you."

Cue the ridiculous blushing, right on schedule. Black slid one hand up N's back to pet thoughtfully at his neck and shoulder. "It's okay. Yeah, it's fine. Really. I never imagined _this _would happen, but I'm willing to see where it goes. I don't know how I feel yet, but I like you enough to try. You're weird, but it's a good weird."

Black didn't have to see N's smile to know it was there. "You're a good weird, too." The arms pressed between them relaxed and wound back around his stomach, letting him press even closer. Green strands of hair tickled Black's chin, but it didn't bother him much now. N was finally still and quiet, and Black could get used to the warm breath on his throat and the leg thrown over his side. It was easier to just fall into; he wondered briefly why he bothered fighting it before blanking out entirely.

ho hum. I want to continue this, but I know how flighty I get with chaptered stories. At the very least, drabble collection.


End file.
